Today’s blog is about a fabulous new strip called “Bad Machinery.” Oh, let me tell you.
I’ve been reading John’s work since the late 90s, and one thing remarkable about him is his fearlessness to try new things. I remember when he switched from drawing by hand to drawing it on computer, which alarmed me (who likes change, right?), but he patted me on the back and assured me it’d be okay. And he was right. His computer style quickly became slick and awesome and he used it for years.
I came to appreciate his boldness to implement change even more, later on, when I ended my 11-year daily comic Bruno (a moody, sarcastic witty piece) and began my daily comic Little Dee (a silly all-ages romp), and now my change again to Spacetrwaler (a brassy comic masterpiece set to conquer all hearts and minds global-wide)
John began with the online strip Bobbins in 1998 which he later changed to Scary-Go-Round in 2002, bringing some of the favorite characters along with him. And this autumn, he did the same thing again with its new incarnation, Bad Machinery.
I was pretty excited to see him do this, especially now. I feel Bad Machinery has a more storytelling quality, with lush large full-color pages. This excited me because I was to start a Spacetrawler 3 months later with a very similar format. And it always feels better to break new ground when you are in such good company.
If for no other reason, it’s worth checking out because John Allison if a helluva nice guy. I met John at the San Diego Comic Con back in 2002, and had a great time, and later he even wrote the foreword for my book, “Eleven Months Early” Bruno book#8, for which I am still proud and grateful.
And now, enjoy a couple character sketches I did of Gurf….
Good plug- scarygoround.com is the stop right after spacetrawler on my daily webcomic peregrinations.
I like the way the eeb is shredded away, like she was made of paper maché or meat ribbons.
What piece of the ship did Gurf tear off? Aren’t they going to need that? ;o)
And “SMEEEEEEEARR!!!” Lovely!
Definitely going to forward this on to my eldest daughter. She reminds me very much of Yuri, and she’s been having … difficulties … with her live-in boyfriend. Does Gurf do birthday parties?
Nick, don’t worry. Yuri was able to hack an alien ship’s system to unlock the elevators. I’m sure with a good soldering iron she can get that piece of equipment hooked back up and able to make coffee in no time!
(“But it’s not supposed to make coffee…”
“Bitch and moan, bitch and moan…”)
I love the changing facial expressions in panels 9 through 11: surprise morphing into concern morphing into “Ewwwww … “
It’s been a long while since I’ve seen a problem solved so disgustingly, and yet made me laugh out loud. Good work!
The mop-bot’s going to be busy for a while.
JKC, Gurf mostly does children’s parties. 🙂
Pingback: Spacetrawler - Spacetrawler at the Sequential Art Gallery
Pingback: Fleen: Home Of The Webcomics Action News Team! » Say The Word And I Appear
Gurf can be awefully literal minded, can’t he? 🙂
I gotta say, this is one of the better pages …
He wins, paste down.
????